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DeBrett’s Valentines Day Dinner, from 6pm

View from Devonport to Rangitoto Island on the left. Photo: VDuBourdieu 2010

Make it a feast to remember on Valentine’s Day at Hotel de Brett in Auckland.

You could just about fly there in time if you were to book quickly. (Check Skyscanner out for cheap flights on Cathay Pacific: currently £1090.)

Imagine sitting under a canopy of stars in Hotel de Brett’s cosy atrium, where you could enjoy five divine courses, interspersed with the top aphrodisiacal foods.

Michelle and her team have researched the top aphrodisiacs, and incorporated as many as they can into a special menu for Valentine’s Day.

Michelle Deery of Hotel DeBrett, Auckland. Photo, VDuBourdieu 2010.

At $99 a head, bookings are essential, but don’t worry, if you miss out on the big day, you can still try this enticing new menu for a few more days.

The erotically-inclined ingredients include Waikanae crab, oysters, salmon, quail eggs, avocado, duck, Angus beef, snapper, truffle and chocolate

See the whole menu here.

This delightful hotel right in the centre of Auckland city has just turned two – that’s right two years’ old – and it’s a wonderful place to stay. Full of quirky detail and designed for comfort, I can recommend a stay.

With its bright, striped carpets, luxe beds, and debonair, black-themed bathrooms, Hotel DeBrett offers a boutique experience at a price that won’t leave you weeping over your credit card in a week’s time.

Best of all, Hotel DeBrett is right in the middle of Auckland City, within 40 minutes by car of the airport, and only minutes on foot from the harbour.

Heavenly Vegetarian dish, The Kitchen, DeBrett's. Photo, VDuBourdieu 2010.

Here, you can take off by ferry or yacht for Devonport, Birkenhead and Waikanae, or travel by yacht further afield to the many of the islands nestling in the harbour, the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Islands.

February events picked out by Hotel DeBrett

•    Headland Sculpture – Matiatia Wharf, Waiheke Island – to 20 Feb
•    A Hut of One’s Own – Brick Bay Sculpture Trail – to 31 Mar
•    Outrageous Fortune – The Exhibition, Auckland Museum – to 1 May
•    Beyond the Darkside – A Pink Floyd Tribute – The Civic Theatre – 12 Feb
•    Shakespeare in the Park
•    Auckland Lantern Festival – Albert Park – 18-20 Feb
•    Max Gimblett, Sumi Ink – Auckland Art Gallery – 21-22 Feb
•    Don McLean – Aotea Centre – 24 Feb
•    Neil Diamond – Vector Arena – 26 to 28 Feb
•    A Day On The Green – Crowded House – Villa Maria Winery – 27 Feb

Every one is different: bedrooms at Hotel DeBrett, Auckland.

Every one different: bedrooms at Hotel DeBrett. Photo, VDuBourdieu 2010

Hotel DeBrett Valentine’s Day dinner

Monday 14 February from 6pm, $99 per person.
Phone: 64(0)9969 1545 or Email: kitchen@hoteldebrett.com

Seaford Live! runs until 12 September

With a surplus of lovely fresh vegetables from Dymocks in Seaford, but little time to cook them, tonight I adapted a Russian recipe for a quick soup called Zelenie shchi.

For a more authentic Russian dish, drop the Bonito and Shiso, and add sour cream and dill when serving.

Ingredients
Half the pictured bunch of Swiss Chard, washed, and chopped into stalk and leaf segments
2 small turnips, cut into 1/8ths
2 medium or 4 small new carrots, sliced across the grain
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 small onion, chopped into 1/8ths
5 cups chicken stock, comprising 2.5 cups of fresh chicken stock and 2 chicken stock cubes with water
2 tablespoons fresh dill or red and green shiso leaves, finely chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon of dashi no moto (dried bonito and kombu)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method
•    Bring the stock and lemon juice to the boil in a large saucepan.
•    Sauté the onion in a large pan for 2 minutes, add the turnips, chard stalks and potato, and cook until golden.
•    Add the fried vegetables to the stock pot, and bring to the boil again.
•    Simmer for 25-35 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
•    Reduce the mixture if necessary by boiling for a further 5 minutes.
•    Add the chard leaves, and cook a further 2 minutes until the leaves are tender but still green.
•    Season with salt and pepper.
•    This could be pureed, but I enjoy the texture of the different vegetables.
•    Serve hot or cold with sliced eggs, and a sprinkling of red or green shiso leaves.

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Category Archives: Healthy Food Options

Aphrodisiac Menu: Hotel DeBrett, Auckland

Seaford Chard & Root Vegetable Soup